Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and firmly believed. You know those who taught you, and you know that from infancy you have known the sacred Scriptures, which are able to give you wisdom for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus.” 2 Timothy 3:15-16 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “We can reach at-risk children”   Lighthouse Christian Camp is located in Smithville, TN. Like the Kids on The Rise Ministry which we considered in yesterday’s devotional, Lighthouse is also a ministry focused on reaching “at-risk” children who live in a world of poverty, drug abuse, and neglect. According to their website (www.lighthousechristiancamp.com) they are:   “…dedicated to helping needy, disadvantaged children suffering from sexual, physical, mental, emotional abuse and neglect. The purpose of the camp is to provide an enjoyable, exciting, enriching, quality outdoor experience, where they learn of God the Creator and are afforded an opportunity to come to a saving knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. The staff and volunteer counselors provide love, encouragement, and counsel to needy children suffering from learning disabilities, emotional and behavioral problems, and low self-esteem and self-images, resulting from abuse, neglect, and rejection.”   Every year Lighthouse provides a free one-week summer camp experience to close to 1000 children and young teens from multiple counties in middle Tennessee. In addition to the summer camp experience, the camp provides weekend camp experiences throughout the year, as well as an afterschool program. Campers are also connected with a local partnering church in their community for follow-up and mentoring throughout the year. Additionally, each year at Christmastime, the camp offers a Christmas party for the boys, and another for the girls. The party includes food, games, and gifts, as well as a store where the children can go shopping (with play money) to purchase Christmas gifts for parents, grandparents, and siblings.   Lighthouse Christian Camp is a wonderful ministry that reaches deeply into the lives of troubled children, showing them the love of God and teaching them the Good News of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Hundreds of children and teens are led to faith in Christ and then discipled through the camp ministry and through the partnership of participating churches. The mentoring relationships developed often last for years and have an impact for a lifetime.   If you and your church are located in or near middle Tennessee, you will find many varied volunteer opportunities available to you through a partnership with the Lighthouse Christian Camp. You can also be a financial partner. I encourage you to visit their website. And if you’re not in this region of the country, chances are good that there’s a ministry like this in your area that you could partner with.   The greatest chance we will ever have to reach a person for Christ is when they are a child, and then as a teenager. The older a person gets, the harder it becomes to reach them. I encourage you to get involved in the lives of children and teens.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “And he took the children in his arms, put his hands on them and blessed them.” Mark 10:16 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Children are our future”   Children are our society’s most valuable resource because they represent the future. But children today are struggling like never before. Psychological problems among children are at an all-time high. Some studies show that as many as 1 in 5 below the age of 18 are being treated for some mental health issue. Likewise, slightly more than 20% of those under 20 years of age are classified as being obese, and many of those will develop type 2 diabetes. 16% of all children live in poverty, and approximately 25% live in single parent homes.   Those are just a few of the vital statistics pertaining to children. It says nothing of literacy rates, failing schools, gender confusion, social engineering, drugs, violent video games, and a host of other societal issues impacting our children today. So, even the average child faces a host of pressures and challenges on a daily basis. But then there’s a segment of the childhood population classified as “at-risk”. These children face special challenges beyond just the things already mentioned, and usually their situation includes the lack of positive adult interactions in their homelife. As has already been noted in this series, positive adult interactions are vital for the healthy mental, emotional, and spiritual development of a child.   Here in Cumberland County, Tennessee we’re blessed to have a wonderful organization that helps to address that problem. It’s known as “Kids on The Rise” (KOTR). In partnership with local schools, KOTR identifies at-risk children who would benefit from a having a mentoring relationship with an adult volunteer. Then, with the permission of the parent or guardian, the child meets with the mentor for one hour a week. Here’s how their website describes their mission:   “At Kids On The Rise, we believe that children are most likely to reach their full potential when surrounded and supported by positive, caring adults. A mentor listens, encourages, establishes positive boundaries and acts as a strong role model to help students develop a sense of hope and vision for their futures. (Our mission is) to provide experiences for youth that will enable them to further develop their intellectual, social, verbal, and creative capacities and to facilitate their entry into a responsible, productive adulthood.”   You can find out more about KOTR on their website at www.kidsontherise.org. Whether you are interested in potentially serving as a mentor for a child, or if you would simply like to make a donation, it’s a worthy cause that does great work on behalf of some of the most vulnerable children in our society.   Tomorrow, I will tell you about another organization which is also doing great work to help struggling children and which depends on the help of volunteer workers and mentors.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “So Moses arose with his assistant Joshua and went up on the mountain of God.” Exodus 24:13 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Mentors shape lives”   In recent years I’ve had a front-row seat to observe an unfolding story of how a mentor can help to shape a life over a long span of years. It involves as Sheriff’s deputy in our county who, about twenty years ago began going into the public schools to teach children about the dangers of drug abuse. He was using the old DARE program as his model.   In one of those sessions was a fifth-grade boy who not only identified with the lessons of the program, but more than that, he connected on a personal level with that deputy sheriff. That young boy decided that he wanted to one day be a law enforcement officer too, and he wanted to work with children just like this deputy was doing. That began a years-long friendship and mentoring relationship between that boy and that deputy that continues to this day.   Today that boy is an adult man, a husband and father. He too is a sheriff’s deputy and serves on the same force as his mentor. He actually works under the supervision of his mentor, serving as a School Resource Officer (SRO), and he is slowly assuming many of the duties his mentor has held for decades. He is essentially filling his mentor’s shoes. He has never lost sight of the vision he had that day in his fifth-grade elementary school classroom, and it is progressively becoming a reality in his life.   By the way, during all those years that older deputy also served as an associate pastor, and then as a pastor, in his off-duty hours. Today that young man, in addition to his work as an SRO, also serves as a youth pastor in his off-duty hours. It’s a great story of how a mentor can help to shape a life.   Joshua had a similar relationship with his mentor Moses. Joshua connected at a deep level and at a young age with Moses. He then came alongside and served as Moses’ assistant for many years, learning from him and growing into an effective servant in his own right. Eventually Joshua stepped in and assumed Moses’ role as the leader of Israel.   Mentors often help to shape the direction of a life. Tomorrow, I will tell you about an organization in our town that’s focused specifically on pairing older adults with at-risk children in mentoring relationships through the schools. In many ways and in many cases, mentors can help to shape lives. Perhaps God wants to use you to help shape a young life.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “Paul wanted Timothy to go with him …” Acts 16:3 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “The passing of Ken Daugherty”   In 1990, when my family and I became members of Hilltop Baptist Church in Chula Vista, CA, I began hearing stories about a man who was a member of the church but whom I hadn’t met yet. The stories were about a guy who led mission teams to remote locations around the world, doing exciting things in exotic places. For instance, there were the three weeks he spent trekking through the mountains of Nepal to bring medical care and the gospel to remote villages; or the numerous trips to bring supplies to refugees hiding from the Sandinista government in the jungles of Nicaragua; or the time his team was captured by the communists in Malawi and held in prison, finally being freed by the direct intervention of the U.S. State Department.   Seriously, I was expecting to meet a swashbuckling Indiana Jones character. Instead, Ken Daugherty struck me more as a soft-spoken, mild-mannered accountant. He was not at all what I expected. But the stories were true, and a lot more as well. As I got to know Ken and I spent time with him in the CERT International (Christian Emergency Relief Teams) offices, the more fascinated I became with the world of international missions. I quickly became a volunteer in the office and warehouse, I helped to plan missions and prepare supplies, and I got to go on a mission or two as well.   Over the years (after I retired from the Navy, went to seminary, and became a Pastor), I continued my association with Ken and with CERT International, helping, supporting, and sometimes going. Ken and I would often speculate if perhaps someday I might be able to join him on the staff of CERT International.   Finally, in 2004, that did happen. By then the CERT International headquarters were located in Crossville, TN and God opened the door for me to join Ken as his full-time Vice-President of Operations. Over the next thirteen years (four as a full-time staff member and then, after I returned to church work and became the Pastor of Oak Hill Baptist, nine more years as a part-time mission planner and team leader), I planned and led close to thirty missions for CERT to places around the world. They were fascinating and rewarding years for me and I will be forever grateful for how God used Ken Daugherty to introduce me to the world of international missions.   Ken went home to heaven last week, on Wednesday March 9th, after a long and fruitful life of 84 years. In addition to serving as the President of CERT International for over thirty years, he was a Pastor for more than twenty-five years before that, and he was at one time the Chairman of the Billy Graham Hawaii crusade.   There will be a memorial service for Ken on Friday March 18th at 6:00 at Central Baptist Church in Crossville, TN. In lieu of flowers the family requests donations in his memory to CERT International. You can send them to:   CERT International 460 Old Jamestown HWY Crossville, TN 38555 Or you can donate on the CERT International website at www.certinternational.org.   Ken Daugherty served the Lord faithfully and well in a variety of ministry roles for almost sixty years. He blessed many people and he will be missed by all.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “There was a prophetess, Anna, a daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was well along in years, having lived with her husband seven years after marriage, and was a widow for eight-four years. She did not leave the temple, serving God night and day with fasting and prayers.” Luke 2:36-38 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Mentoring can take varied forms”   In an effort to illustrate different types of mentoring relationships, over the next few days I will tell some mentoring stories (some from my own experience and some that I’ve witnessed).   Mary E. Henry served as a mentor of mine for a very brief period of time, and for a very specific purpose. Mary was affectionally known as “Mary E”, to distinguish her from another Mary in the church who was known as “Mary Rose”. When I became the Pastor of Oak Hill Baptist Church in January of 2009 Mary E had already been a member for sixty-nine years. As a teenager she was one of the founding members of the church (in 1939), and she had been there ever since. She was the original pianist and was still playing the piano in our worship services almost seventy years later. Mary E was also the church historian, and she had a deep love for the church and for the Oak Hill community.   For a variety of reasons, Oak Hill Baptist had gone through many Pastors in their history and as a result, most of the tenures had been short. What the church really needed was stability in leadership and Mary E decided that I was going to be the guy who would settle in and stay. So, she made me her project. She set out to instill in me her own love for the church and for the community.   During my first year as the Pastor, Mary E invited me to visit in her home many times so she could tell me stories about the church, the families, and the community. As the church historian she had maintained extensive picture albums, clipped newspaper articles, and collected mementoes that she wanted to show me. I spent quite a few hours during my first year at Oak Hill Baptist sipping iced tea and eating sandwiches at Mary E’s dining room table, as I was tutored in the history and heritage of Oak Hill Baptist Church and the Oak Hill community.   And it worked. I quickly grew to share her love for the church and the community, and although Mary E has been in heaven for a long time now, I’m still here at Oak Hill Baptist more than thirteen years later – and I hope to be here for many more years to come. For some reason, Mary E decided early-on that I was a keeper (and I’m very glad that she did).   Mentors come in all shapes and sizes. They can serve many varied purposes, and sometimes just for a season. Perhaps God wants to use you in some special way in someone’s life at this time. I encourage you to spend some time in prayer this morning just being open before Him and giving Him the opportunity to speak to you about this if He wants to. Maybe God wants you to be someone’s Mary E. Henry – a mentor for a very specific reason and maybe just for a short time.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Planted in the house of the Lord, they thrive in the courts of our God. They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green, to declare: “The Lord is just; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him.” Psalm 92:12-15 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Older Christians can be great mentors”   I think Eleanor Roosevelt got it exactly right when she said, “Beautiful young people are accidents of nature, but beautiful old people are works of art.” Young people are often admired for their good looks and their slender youthful bodies, but that’s largely a function of genetics and good fortune. A beautiful old person is almost always considered beautiful for who they are on the inside.   A beautiful heart is a work of art and a winsome spirit is developed over time. Godly wisdom comes from a lifetime of walking with Jesus, and because this is true, such people continue to thrive even in old age. This is what the Psalmist was describing in Psalm 82:12-15 (above). Not necessarily physically thriving – the older body certainly isn’t as healthy and vibrant as the younger body was – but spiritually they bear even more fruit in the senior years than they did when they were younger.   Yesterday we asked the question, “Where have all the good mentors gone?” They haven’t gone anywhere. They’re right there in our pews. Older Christians are the hidden treasures of the church. If they have indeed spent a lifetime walking closely with Jesus, in old age they will be fonts of wisdom and insight. They have a lifetime of experiences to share and they have understanding of people and situations that runs deep.   If you’re looking for a mentor, pray and ask God to connect you to an older person in your church. And if you are one of those older persons, tell God you’re available and willing to be a friend and mentor to a younger Christian. Mentoring is an ideal ministry activity for older Christians. Richard Morgan, who spent a lifetime serving as a chaplain to older people, said that all too often the three temptations of older people are to decline, to whine, and to recline. But a fourth option, a much more worthwhile one, is to shine. You can indeed shine in old age, and mentoring is an excellent way to do so.   In the days to come I want to share with you some stories about older Christians who I’ve personally been blessed to know. But for today, if you don’t have an older mentor, then I encourage you to ask God to lead you to one. And if you aren’t serving as someone’s mentor, ask God to lead you to a younger person you can build such a relationship with.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “When they had crossed over, Elijah said to Elisha, “Tell me what I can do for you before I am taken from you.” So Elisha answered, “Please, let me inherit two shares of your spirit … He (Elisha) picked up the mantle that had fallen off Elijah.” 2 Kings 2:9;13 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Mentors inspire success”   I recently came across a great quote from the actor Denzel Washington regarding the impact of a good mentor. He wrote, “Show me a successful individual and I’ll show you someone who had real positive influences in his or her life. I don’t care what you do for a living – if you do it well, I’m sure there was someone cheering you on or showing you the way. A mentor.”   Denzel Washington himself was influenced by the examples of pro football stars Jim Brown and Gayle Sayers, as well as by leaders in the Boy’s Clubs of America chapter he was part of as a child. He also had mentors in the church he grew up in. He believes so strongly in the influence of good mentors that he has used his own fame and fortune to help promote and fund the work of the Boy’s Clubs of America, as well as that of local churches, and many other charitable efforts which are designed to positively influence at-risk children.   The influence a mentor can have often turns out to be exponential in nature too. Such was the case with the relationship between the Old Testament prophets Elijah and Elisha. Elijah was a mentor to Elisha, and Elisha would ultimately step in and carry-on Elijah’s work. As it turned out, Elisha ended up having more than double the impact that Elijah did, performing just over twice as many miracles in his own long ministry career.   Going back to our example from professional football, Archie Manning was a great quarterback, but his sons Peyton and Eli were even better, and his grandson Arch is now said to be more talented than any of them.   It’s difficult to overstate the importance and value of good mentors. Therefore, as has been noted in previous devotionals in this series, not only should we all seek to be a mentor, but we all need to have a mentor as well. But how do we find one? Where are all the good mentors these days? We’ll think about that tomorrow.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “Grandchildren are the crown of the elderly …” Proverbs 17:6 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Grandparents can be great mentors”   Our grandson lives a thousand miles away in Texas. So, we don’t get to spend anywhere near as much time with him as we would like. But, thank God for technology! We live in the age of “Facetime” and so live video chats are always an option. We did that this past Sunday over Sunday dinner. As we sat at our dinner table in Crossville, TN, we had a dinnertime chat with Oliver as he sat in his highchair in San Antonio, TX. It was wonderful to see him smiling into the screen, giggling and reaching out for us.     Proverbs 17:6 says that grandchildren are the crown of the elderly, and I know that to be true. Another translation says that “children’s children are the crown of the aged”. Yes, I have loved being a parent and I enjoyed raising my children, but it’s a real joy to watch my son’s son grow up. And just as I tried to be a good influence on my children, I intend to work just as hard to be a mentor and good influence for my grandson.   Grandparents are in a unique position to have a positive influence on their grandchildren. Grandparenting done right can be a powerful formative force in the life of a child. I have a friend who loves to tell stories from his childhood about the many hours he spent with his grandfather as a child. They were very close and that godly man was intentional as he built into the life of his grandson. He taught him Biblical wisdom and valuable life lessons. To this day the memories of those times with his grandfather bring a smile to my friends face and often a tear to his eye.      My mother had that kind of influence on her grandchildren too. She was such a kind and godly woman, and her grandchildren loved her so much, that her memory is something of a legend in our family. At family reunions, when the grandchildren are all together, there are always plenty of “Grandma Mersereau” stories being told.   Grandparents can be especially helpful and influential in the lives of struggling teenagers too. Often the teen will be more open and more transparent with a grandparent than with a parent, and consequently the grandparent can sometimes get through to the young person when the parent cannot.   Grandparents can be great mentors. Thank God for godly grandparents!     God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “Death and life are in the power of the tongue …” Proverbs 18:21 (CSB)   Our thought for today: “Speak words of life”   Before we leave the subject of parents as mentors for their children and move on to considering other types of mentoring relationships, I would be remiss if I didn’t comment on the power of the words a parent speaks.   Words are powerful. Words penetrate, and words stick. Forever. Once words are spoken, they can never be unspoken. If they were angry or unkind words then after the fact you can apologize for them and you can attempt to explain them away; you can try to minimize them, and claim they meant something other than what they seemed to mean, but you cannot unsay them. Once they have been spoken and heard, those words are in the child’s memory and will remain there forever. And that being the case, it’s essential that we choose our words carefully – prayerfully.   That’s true in general, regardless of who we’re speaking to, but it’s especially true with respect to the words a parent speaks to a child. Children tend to believe their parents. They especially believe what the parent tells them to be true about themselves. If you tell a child enough times that he’s a bad boy, soon he will become convinced that he is indeed a bad boy. He won’t just believe that a particular behavior is bad, but that “he” is bad. There’s a difference. (You can correct a wrong behavior while still affirming your love for him and his worth as an individual. It’s all in the delivery).   Even worse than repeated criticism are the angry and mean words some parents say to their children: “You’re so stupid!” “You’ll never amount to anything!” “You are a rotten kid!” Etc. Statements like that set a child up for a lifetime of insecurities and self-esteem issues. Over time, children will believe what their parents say is true about them.   But the opposite is also true. You can speak words of life into your children. You can speak Biblical truth to them. “God loves you and so do I.” “God has a great plan for your life.” “You can do all things through Christ who strengthens you.” “God has not given you a spirit of fear but one of courage.” “You are a wonderful boy/girl and I’m so glad God gave you to me.”   You get the point. As a parent your influence upon your children is huge – for good or for bad. I encourage you to make sure your influence is good. The words you speak to them will go a long way in determining whether it is or not. So, speak words of life.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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Good morning everyone,   Our theme for this month: “The influence of a mentor”   Our Bible verse for today: “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn from it.” Proverbs 22:6 (NIV)   Our thought for today: “Teach your children well”   When I was a child, our church was within walking distance from our home – just one block away. On Sunday mornings my mother would dress us up in our Sunday best and lead us up the sidewalk in a row, like five little ducklings following the mamma duck. We would all go to mass at Saint Matthew’s Catholic Church. On weeknights we would also go to catechism classes (Sunday school) to receive training for our First Holy Communion, and then later as teenagers for our Confirmation.   I dropped out of church in my mid-teens and didn’t return until I was in my mid-thirties, but during those faithful childhood years the seeds of faith were planted deep in my heart, and they would bear fruit many years later.   That storyline tends to hold true in a majority of cases. Proverbs 22:6 is a general principle that applies broadly, not an etched-in-stone guarantee that applies specifically in every case. But it is often true that those who receive good training in the Christian faith as children, usually either remain faithful throughout life or they return to the faith later in life if they drifted for a while.   The key is a faithful parent (or even better, parents) who taught the faith to the child. If they modeled it in their own life, and if they had that child in church and Sunday school throughout the growing up years, there’s a good chance the seeds of faith were planted.   This is without question the most important role a parent has to play in the life of a child. No other lessons about life issues, conduct, or behaviors are more important than instruction in the Christian faith. Nothing will have a greater impact in the life of that child, or be of more value to him or her throughout their life, than will the planting of the seeds of faith in their young mind and heart.   Children learn their lessons of faith first and best from their parents. When it comes to your responsibility to mentor and influence your children in good and positive ways, nothing is more important than what you teach them about God and about how to live the Christian faith well.   I encourage you to be the model of faith that your children need to see. Teach your children well.   God bless, Pastor Jim

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